Weekend Watch List: New Series All Over The Place!

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Welcome to Watch List, where we identify five things on TV to watch while you stay at home and prepare yourself for the NFL playoffs. Recliner? Check. Bucket of nacho cheese? Check. Bucket for human waste? Check. Don’t mix up your buckets! LET’S GO!

THE CAPE – 9:00PM Sunday (NBC) NBC tries its hand again at the superhero genre with this heavily promoted new series about a cop in the fictional town of Palm City (sounds like a Grand Theft Auto city!) who’s framed for murder and left for dead, only to come back as a butt-whipping superhero looking for tasty vengeance. I’m not quite clear yet on what The Cape’s cape can actually do. I assume it can flourish quite dramatically, though that isn’t really a superpower. Be on the lookout for Summer Glau (grrr!) and Vinnie Jones. He was the Juggernaut. ANTICIPATION: CAN’T BE WORSE THAN HEROES!

BOB’S BURGERS – 8:30PM Sunday (FOX) I’m highly intrigued by Fox’s latest animated sitcom, if only because it features the voice stylings of the brilliant H. Jon Benjamin, who also voices the lead role over at “Archer” on FX and does a masterful job of it. Joe Buck and Troy Aikman noted last week that the pilot made them laugh out loud, and I was unaware that either man was capable of such spontaneous reaction. ANTICIPATION: KINDA HIGH!

EPISODES – 9:30PM Sunday (Showtime) Showtime offers up two brand new series on Sunday night. The first is this meta comedy about a couple of married British TV producers who have sold their show to America and must go through the process of watching network executives ruin their show. In the mix here is Matt LeBlanc, who returns to series TV for the first time since… well, you know. He follows in Lisa Kudrow’s footsteps with a very inside Hollywood kind of comedy. A lot of people liked “The Comeback.” We’ll see if this one has more staying power. ANTICIPATION: HOLLYWOOD!

SHAMELESS – 10:00PM Sunday (Showtime) Showtime’s second new offering of the weekend is this hourlong show starring William H. Macy playing way against type as an alcoholic, hard-partying dad and his family of misfits. I’m not really sure how I feel about Macy rocking the long hair. I still expect him to try and upsell me on Tru Cote. ANTICIPATION: YA!

SNL – 11:30PM Saturday (NBC) Jim Carrey is your host, but forget about that. Your musical guest is The Black Keys, and the Black Keys rule. You will like them or be thrashed. ANTICIPATION: TIGHTEN UP!